Objective
To summarize the characteristics of surgery-related near misses including events composition, cause of incident, specialty category, personnel allocation etc, and to provide experience of feedforward control for the nurses in operating room and a clinical basis of safety standards for the management of operating rooms.
Method
The 240 surgery-related near misses occurred between July 2014 and July 2016 were retrospectively analyzed, using frequencies and percentiles to describe the count data.
Results
The 240 surgery-related near misses were mainly associated with surgical stitches (91 cases, 37.9%), surgical dressings (52 cases, 21.7%) and surgical instruments (45 cases, 18.8%). The main features of the 91 cases of surgical stitching included loss of suture needles (40.7%, 37/91) and fracture events (37.4%, 34/91). Among the 52 cases of surgical dressings, the most commonly were gauze dressing events (43 cases, 82.7%), in which 19 were with unclear numbers of retained gauzes in the reoperation patient’s body, and 15 were postoperative counting anomalies. Among the 45 cases of surgical instruments, the fracture and defect were the most common (21 cases, 46.7%).
Conclusion
The operation nurses should focus on the prevention of suture needle loss, the surgical dressings loss and the fracture and defect of surgical instruments, etc, to reduce or avoid the surgery-related near misses.
Objective
To evaluate the advantages about video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy with optimized management of surgical instruments package.
Methods
A total of 200 patients with lung cancer were enrolled, which included 78 males and 122 females, aged 24-83 years at median age of 56.8 years. All of them were divided into 2 groups including a routine group (n=100) and an optimized management of surgical instruments group (n=100). The total operation time, bleeding, instrument weights, utilization rate of instruments, counted and cleaning time in 2 groups were recorded and analyzed.
Results
The average operation time and average lost blood of the routine group was 117.62±42.52 min and 53.14±50.69 ml, respectively, and the one of the optimized instruments group was 120.48±40.62 min, 56.10±49.87 ml, respectively, with no significant difference between the two groups (P=0.112, P=0.231, respectively). The utilization rate of instruments in the routine group (58.02%±2.39%) was significantly lower than that of the optimized instruments group (94.00%±1.48%, P=0.014). The counted time, the loading and unloading time and the cleaning time of instruments in the routine group was 112.00±26.00 s, 70.00±15.00 s, 1 010.00±130.00 s, respectively, much longer than the time of the optimized instruments group, which was 65.00±23.00 s, 20.00±4.00 s, 665.00±69.00 s, respectively. There was a statistical difference between the two groups (P=0.028, P=0.011, P=0.039, respectively). The value of instruments in the routine group (177 574.00±14 438.00 yuan) was apparently higher than that of the optimized instruments group(132 027.00±10 311.00 yuan), with a statistical difference (P=0.032).
Conclusion
It is demonstrated that optimized management of surgical instruments package in VATS lobectomy can greatly improve the utilization rate of instruments and work efficiency, with no effects on the operation time and amount of bleeding in lobectomy.
Objective To assess the clinical value of a novel surgical technique—Tubeless subxiphoid uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery with percutaneous suspension technique via balance-shaped sternal elevation device in the resection of anterior mediastinal masses. Methods Patients who underwent tubeless subxiphoid uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery via balance-shaped sternal elevation device in anterior mediastinal masses process at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University from March to April 2025 were included, and their clinical data were analyzed. Results A total of 4 patients were included, with 2 males and 2 females, aged 58-75 years. The diameter of the tumor was 2.5-3.0 cm. The operation time was 60.0-150.0 min, intraoperative blood loss was 5-10 mL, pain score on the 3rd day after surgery was 0 points, and postoperative hospital stay was 2-3 days. All patients achieved complete resection of the masses and thymus without perioperative complications. ConclusionThe tubeless subxiphoid uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery with percutaneous suspension technique via balance-shaped sternal elevation device technique optimizes surgical visualization and instrument maneuverability while avoiding complications related to conventional anesthesia and tubing, thereby markedly enhancing the minimally invasive profile of anterior mediastinal masses resections. In addition to maintaining procedural safety, this approach effectively reduces postoperative pain and accelerates patient recovery, highlighting its potential for widespread clinical adoption.
